The Outsider
by butterfly chibi
Summary: With Titans crashing through Walls and slowly destroying humanity on a daily basis, people would think there are not many ways for things to get any stranger... Oh, how wrong they'd be. Everybody is forced to rethink their black and white views of the world when a mysterious Outsider appears and makes it clear that she'd rather side with a Titan over a human any day. Levi xOCx Eren
1. Chapter 1

A/N;[Butterfly Chibi and TheHeart'sCompass]: **This is the reuploaded version of The Outsider. Intrigued has made the** **personal decision to delete her old account and make a new one. We hope that you will continue to support our story! ^~^ **I hope everyone enjoys this chapter guys because there is more sure to come. XD

We don't own Attack on Titan or it's characters. The only character that is up for ownership is my Oc Arika Welsch...

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The liquid rays of the sun were seeping into her every pore, giving the girl a sense of clarity that she had been lacking for the longest of times. She couldn't remember the last day she had felt this peaceful. Ticklish blades of grass grazed against her relaxed face, drawing out a soft smile. A warm breeze wrapped around her, blanketing her with the tunes of songbirds and the hum of passing insects.

Her chest fell as she let out a soft sigh of contentment. She wanted to capture this moment. Save it in some part of her mind that she could retreat to during harder times. An escape from reality.

There was no such easy way out though. If it had been that easy, she wouldn't be stuck in this dangerous tango with fate. It was a tug-of-war. A fight to recapture an identity.

Not only for herself, but also for him. Of course, he wasn't capable of helping her.

Everything was weighing heavily on her shoulders. Moments like this helped her forget that. The burden felt lighter somehow.

Breathing in a breath of fresh air, a faint trace of chemicals hit her nose, immediately causing her face to scrunch up in disgust. Cement. Most likely for patching a weak spot in the Wall. From where she lay, the girl was able to hear the commotion of the humans. This close to the Wall, it was undeniable that she would get annoyed of their constant ruckus.

If she squinted upward with enough force, she would occasionally make out the forms of soldiers making routine patrols of the perimeter. Out of all of the times she had come to this field, she had never been once been spotted.

Tall grasses provided great cover and with the combination of laying down made it near impossible to be seen from the towering Wall. The outcome of her being found out would probably be disastrous, so coming within range of humans was most likely not the wisest of choices in the first place. Still, the idea of being so near human civilization was too intriguing to keep away.

These chaste glances of the Insiders always made her curious. She never went any closer, though. She knew her place. They were Insiders, and she was an Outsider. At one point, the girl, too, had been considered an Insider, but those days had long since passed.

This meadow was the closest she would ever get to being on the Inside, and the realistic reminder stung worse than any wound possibly could. But this was an undeniable truth; nothing could be done about it. All she could hope for was that her sacrifice would be worth all of the suffering.

Thundering booms shook the ground beneath the girl. She recognized those footsteps better than any other. Raising a hand to block out the harsh sunlight, she turned and cracked an eye open in the direction of the footsteps' source. Stretching like a cat after a long nap, the girl languidly got to her feet. Snatching a burlap sack off the ground, she swung it over her shoulder and turned to leave her sanctuary. Then she paused and turned back to catch one last glimpse of the Wall. It was so close, yet so out of reach.

Resolutely turning her back, the girl walked away from humanity's precious civilization. Someday I will be able see those Walls from the inside again, the girl vowed. But she wouldn't return to the inside until he was able to return with her. And until that day came, she would remain here, on the Outside.

In the Titans' land.

"Patrolling duty is damn close to topping my list of biggest ways to fucking waste my time," Auruo complained for what could have been the twentieth time in the past five minutes. Everybody was nursing a headache from his insistent whining, and if the man closed his mouth long enough to see all the glares he was receiving, he might realize he was quickly climbing up his comrades' lists of biggest annoyances.

"It's our turn to patrol, Auruo. Just because we are in Levi's Unit doesn't mean we are exempt from regular duties," Petra commented, lacking her usually chipper tone. Walking Wall Rose for the past hour with constant commentary from Auruo had drained her of her patience.

"Just keep a lookout for anything abnormal. Stop using that foul mouth of yours, and start putting your eyes to use, why don't you?" Erd said forcefully, trying to focus him back on the task at hand.

"Yeah, man, let's just get through this without any problems. We already have enough of those as it is. It's not even that hard of a job. No need to be complaining," Günter added.

"Oh, easy for you to say! Maybe you should pull your head out of your ass and actually look around! There's nothing! Nothing abnormal, nothing strange, nothing even remotely worth our time! It's always the fucking same! Same old Titans, same old wall, same old fighting to get absolutely fucking nowhere! And you guys are telling me to open up my eyes?! Un-fucking-believable." Auruo gave an angry grunt, crossed his arms firmly, and walked on without a word.

Erd shook his head in exasperation, but didn't say anything else. He would have continued walking like nothing had happened, but stopped when he realized they were lacking a squad member.

"Levi? What are you doing?" Erd asked when he caught sight of the Corporal who was standing quite some distance behind the rest of his unit. He didn't respond. Erd started to backpedal when he saw Levi inching closer to the Wall's edge, fixated on something on the other side. Auruo, Petra, and Günter quickly followed his lead when Levi crooked a finger their way, waving them over.

The Corporal's face was torn with indecision and puzzlement. His eyes squinted toward something on the ground with the same inescapable, searching gaze that could pinpoint a single spec of dust in an otherwise spotless room. When his teammates reached his side, he pointed in the direction he was looking.

"Do you see that? The tiny spot where the grass is flattened?"

Petra scrunched up her eyes and tried looking from the same angle as Levi. To her, the tall patch of grass just appeared to blend together into a continuous body of land, but when a breeze caused the grass to bend and ripple she was able to catch the slight difference Levi had spotted.

The grass dipped unnaturally in a certain spot, and for a brief moment it revealed a body splayed out in the sun. It was something that somebody could only see if they were intentionally looking for it. Leave it to the clean-freak to find the one thing out of place in any given situation.

"Yeah I see it, too! Is that a person? What are they doing outside the Wall?" Petra's face fell into the same confused state that Levi was sporting.

"Aw, who cares? They're probably dead already, or they will be soon enough." Auruo pointed toward a large ten meter class Titan that had also apparently discovered the person's secret hiding place. The monster was making its way directly toward the soon-to-be victim. "Look. The idiot's gonna be Titan food soon enough either way."

The Corporal's eyes narrowed further. Then a spark ignited and his eyes shot open. His hands nimbly seized the handles of his 3-D Maneuvering Gear, fingers ghosting over the gas triggers. Another breeze combed through the grass, and when it did the scouts were able to see the outline of a girl standing tall amongst the grain. A very not dead girl.

"No. She's alive." The words had just barely left Levi's lips when he was launching himself off the Wall. He disappeared from view, and Petra ran to the Wall's edge to watch him take the heart-wrenching drop before he shot a grappling hook to stop his fall. The man hit the ground running, not sparing a second. With the Titan fast approaching, Levi would be lucky to make it in time.

"LEVI! What are you going to do?! Your equipment is nearly useless on land this flat!" Petra screamed her throat raw. Undeterred, the Corporal kept sprinting at top speed.

The female scout threw her hands up in the air and caved. "Oh, screw it!" Readying her own Maneuvering Gear, Petra followed swiftly on her leader's tail.

Erd couldn't believe his eyes. "You've gotta be kidding me," he mumbled to himself, but he grabbed onto his Gear's handles, nonetheless. Günter followed by example and both were ready to leap into action when Auruo stopped them.

"You're joking, right?! You guys can't be fucking serious! Why are you gonna go so out of your way to save one person?!"

Erd's tone was threateningly cold when he responded. "Because we can save one person. If you don't remember, that's kind of the reason why we fight in the first place. To save people.

Maybe you've become a little too numb to death if you've forgotten that so easily." Erd brushed off Auruo's hand and followed his other comrades, Günter by his side.

Auruo stood dumbfounded for a second before his instincts kicked his ass in gear.

"Fuckin' hell," he spat out as he followed suit and threw himself into Titan territory.

Scratchy blades of grass were biting at Levi's skin as he ripped through the field. She had to be around here somewhere. This was the right direction. This was where he had spotted her.

He should have found her by now. Where was she?

In an instant, the grass opened up, and Levi found himself in the dip of grass where he had first spotted the girl. Well, she obviously wasn't here anymore. Levi quickly scanned the clearing for any clues as to what direction the girl had taken. The parting of the grass wall slightly to his left was all he needed to continue his pursuit.

It wouldn't be long now. He had to be closing in on her. That also meant that the Titan would be, too, though. Levi pumped his legs faster and craned his neck to look above the sea of grass. He couldn't spot her anywhere, but he was made very aware that the direction he was heading in was leading straight toward the Titan in the distance.

"Dammit, that girl is walking right into the Titan's hands and doesn't even realize it," Levi growled under his breath. He needed to stop her from getting any farther right now.

"OI! BRAT! WHERE ARE YOU?!" Levi bellowed at full volume, not breaking pace. He wasn't expecting her to call back to him, but he at least hoped it would get her to stop momentarily.

And stop she did. She hadn't heard a human's voice in so long, so she at first thought she had imagined the masculine sound.

The girl's face went deathly pale when she heard rustling that was progressively getting louder and closer. No figment of her imagination would be chasing after her.

This was really happening.

Staggering backwards a few steps, she froze up, blindsided by surprise at her discovery.

How did he find her? The girl had never planned what she would do in case of being found, and she now found herself at a complete loss as a result. All she knew was that she couldn't will her leaden legs to move. She wasn't even able to move herself out of Levi's way when he came barreling into her.

He collided with her full force, throwing both of them to the ground in a tumble of limbs. Not missing a beat, the first thing Levi said was not an apology but a verbal beating.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Levi hissed out at the girl crushed beneath him. "Why are you out here?!" The girl couldn't make her tongue move to form words, so she just stared at him, wide-eyed.

A human. After so long, so agonizingly long, she was staring one right in the face. Her shocking encounter was cut short when Levi jumped to his feet, pulling her up with him.

"What am I saying? We don't have time for this. Come on, get moving. The Titan is nearly here and we need to get back inside of the Wall before that happens."

Levi started back in the direction he had come, but the girl didn't budge an inch. "What are you waiting for? Let's go!" The Corporal gave a hard tug on the girl's arm.

His words didn't get the result he had been hoping for. The girl's face tensed and she ripped her arm out of his grip. "No." Taking a step away from the human, she held a stance that signified that there was no moving her from that spot.

Levi was fed-up and at the end of his patience. He was about to snap and say that she should be grateful and cooperative after he put his neck on the line for her, but a booming footstep demanded his attention. The Titan had found them.

No longer caring if the girl protested, Levi yanked the girl behind him and readied his blades for battle. It didn't matter in the girl was okay with being stupid enough to get herself killed.

All that mattered was that Levi had decided that he wouldn't sit back and let it happen. Not when he could take action to stop it.

"The terrain is flat so I can only take it down by slashing its feet. By then everyone else should be here to get her out of here and I can give them enough time to escape safely…"

Levi was mumbling his plans out loud, hands always adjusting on the grips of his weapons as if itching to cut into Titan flesh. The girl's eyes widened in horror.

"Wait… You mean you're going to—"

Levi held up his hand to silence her without even turning around. "Just stay behind me and out of my way and you'll be fine. I'll deal with this." Levi was using his commanding voice, a tone that everybody knew not to question.

Apparently "everybody" did not include this girl. The second Levi's weight shifted to his toes to charge forward and attack the girl had launched herself onto his back.

"Don't!" she exclaimed, holding him back in a deathgrip. "Don't you dare hurt him!"

Levi struggled to free himself, yelling at the girl, "What the hell is wrong with you?! What part of 'stay out of my way' didn't you get? Let me go! Do you have a death wish?!"

He could feel her fiercely shake her head, but her hold only tightened. "No, but you're making a huge mistake! What you're doing is wrong! Listen to me!"

The Corporal completely discarded everything the girl said. She was looney. He should've guessed it. What sane person would be outside the Wall anyway? Tearing away from her, he started charging forward again, only for the girl to dart in front of him.

Standing directly between him and the in range Titan, the girl grabbed onto both of his deadly sharp blades without hesitation. Levi tried jerking the weapons out of her grip, but twin streams of blood from the cuts the blades inflicted on her palms made his stop. When he looked away from the wounds, he locked eyes with the girl. He could see pain blossoming in her eyes, but she didn't release the dual blades.

"Listen to me."

It wasn't exactly the best time to be chatting, and that point was only further proven when a throaty roar announced that the Titan was practically breathing down their necks. The minute the creature caught sight of them, it started charging. Levi's eyes darkened with an air of seriousness when he looked away from his nearing death back to the girl.

"Move. Now."

"No."

The arrival of the rest of his team saved Levi from having to knock the girl out so he could deal with the situation.

"Levi! Orders!" Petra shouted out, arriving first to help out. Erd, Günter, and Auruo, being faster runners, had been able to catch up with her.

"Aim for the feet and buy enough time for us to get out of here," Levi said levelly, eyes not breaking away from the girl standing in his way.

"Got it!" they all shouted in unison. His four teammates bolted past him and fanned out, blades gleaming in the sun's glare as they prepared to take down the ten meter class.

Then something changed. The titan started acting differently.

The sight of so many threats surrounding him caused him to slam on the brakes. Its eyes darted back and forth between the soldiers and the girl he had come all this way for. There was no doubt it was torn about something, but it looked like its will to stay and fight was losing out. Cornered, the beast did something the scouts in all their years of service had not experienced.

Hesitantly, the monster started edging backwards before turning around and fleeing the scene.

All of the scouts were shocked silent, but they weren't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, so they took the opportunity for what it was worth. Sheathing his blades, Erd took control of the situation.

"Get the girl and get out! We're getting back before any more Titans show up!"

Petra approached the girl and gently pried her hands away from Levi's swords. She could tell this girl could probably flip the switch very easily if the wrong thing was said, so she spoke as soothingly as possible. "You're okay now. Calm down and let us take you back to the Wall. You'll be safe there."

The girl wasn't listening to her. She was watching the outline of the retreating Titan with blank confusion. "I don't get it… Why would he?... That isn't something he would…" Her whispered thoughts were incomplete and couldn't be made sense of.

There was no more fight in her; she was too enraptured in what just happened to realize what was happening until it was too late. She didn't register she was being thrown over Erd's shoulder to be carried until her world went topsy-turvy.

"What's happening? Put me down!" Nobody paid her any mind.

"You sure you'll be able to carry her back, Erd?" Erd nodded at Petra. She looked to Levi who was eyeing the red stains on his blades.

"All set, Corporal." He looked up long enough to bark out a single order.

"Head back." The words were monotonous. His head was elsewhere, and he had to shake himself back to attention. Now wasn't the time to be unfocused; he could worry when they were safely behind the Walls. They could deal with complications when they returned. The Corporal's eyes fell back to his blood-stained blades. A hospital would be a good place to start.

The scouts systematically navigated their way back through the maze of grass toward the Wall. Levi brought up the rear of the group. He was supposed to be keeping an eye out for any nearby threats, but he couldn't bring himself to.

The only thing occupying his mind at the moment was how odd it was that the girl was beating her fists against Erd's back to release her. After so much trouble, this girl showed no gratitude for being saved. A prominent frown took over Levi's face as he continued to watch the girl relentlessly trying to escape.

It just didn't add up.

It was almost like she didn't want to be rescued in the first place.

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Please read and review~


	2. Chapter 2

Levi wasn't able to determine who had caused more damage. Him with his blades or her with with her own fists. She had beaten Erd's back until both it and her fists were black and blue, bloody, and sore.

The girl had fought it out until the very end, and the scouts had started worrying if they would need to resort to sedation to bring her inside the hospital. That proved not to be a concern, though. When the small hospital had come into view, all resistance drained out of her, and the girl became uncharacteristically cooperative.

That hadn't gone unnoticed by Levi.

Even as the girl was laying in the hospital bed without resisting, Levi hadn't let up suspicion. He didn't buy it for a second. Nobody does a full one-eighty that quickly for no reason. The rest of Levi's squad were convinced, though. Well, it wasn't that they had been convinced that there was nothing off about this girl, it was more along the lines of they didn't have any reason in the first place to think that there was more to this than met the eye.

Erd was off getting ice for his back, and Günter and Auruo weren't even in the hospital because they thought the girl was low-key enough for just Levi and Petra to handle. Everyone had already come to the conclusion she probably had a mental disorder and had decided to go outside the Wall like any normal crazy person would.

Everyone, that is, except Levi.

"Can you stop watching me like that? I didn't grow a second head or anything the last time I checked," the girl stated from the hospital bed, not at all blind to Levi's consistent analyzing stare. The Corporal's eyes narrowed.

"No, but you were outside the Wall last time I checked. Willingly, I might add. I would think my staring would be the least of your worries if I were you." The girl became noticeably irritated at Levi's unmasked, judgemental tone. He continued, regardless.

"But I'm not you. I have a healthy level of insanity. You, on the other hand, are padded cell in an asylum level of insanity." Almost rising to the bait, the girl had sat up, mouth half opened to argue that she was of perfectly sound mind, but Petra jumped in before anything got too out of hand.

"Woah, Levi, don't be that harsh! We need to start basic here, okay? We can discuss her… er, health later." Petra gave a tentative glance toward the girl on the hospital bed, face clearly showing her belief that mental instability was probably not too far off the mark in this scenario. She could predict the girl either being easily provoked into a fit of rage or having a meltdown. Best tread carefully. Petra softly pulled up a chair to the bedside.

"What's your name, sweetheart?" she asked calmly, yet noticeably slower than how she was speaking before.

Oh, great. She thinks I'm out of my mind, too! This just couldn't get any worse even if I tried! The girl grimaced slightly at the thought. It's okay, it'll be over soon. then I won't have to deal with this anymore.

"It's Arika. Arika Welsch. And I'm not crazy, I swear it."

"If you're not crazy, then you're inhumanly stupid. Take your pick, it doesn't make a difference to us how you managed to get yourself almost eaten," Levi drawled in a monotone.

"I wasn't going to be eaten," Arika said confidently but then faltered. Some memory had snagged her attention, causing her to look distracted and speak uncertainly. "I would've been just fine without you people butting in."

"You would've been long dead if we didn't show up," he persisted.

"I've made it this long without any damn human's help, thank you very much," Arika grumbled to herself. She hadn't meant for the others to hear her frustrated statement, but with Petra sitting right next to her made it impossible.

"Wait, how long are you talking about? How long were you out there?" Petra asked as she got a sinking feeling in her stomach. What had unsettled her was Arika's casual use of the word "human" to describe her or Levi. They either had a severe mental case on their hands… Or could it be possible the girl had been separated from humanity for so long that she had started talking like that?

Arika gave a sideways glance at Petra and turned her head away again. "A while. A long while," she responded with finality, not willing to give any further details.

Petra looked over to Levi who was leaning forward more in his chair, still persistent despite having hit a dead end. "Fine. How about family? If you won't speak for yourself we can always track down someone else to speak for you, and I'm sure they'll be absolutely overjoyed to hear about your little Wall escapade." Levi didn't think this would magically get her to speak up, but he hadn't expected Arika to start laughing.

"Oh, good luck trying! That won't help you one bit, you'd get absolutely nowhere," Arika sneered at him.

How is that any different from now, Levi thought with frustration at hitting another dead end. "Well, you'll be staying here until we do get somewhere, so you need to start answering questions some time."

"Well, I'm done answering to you, so you can go ahead and try your luck again tomorrow," Arika said, resolutely looking him in the eyes. Levi's eyes darkened, but he got up from his chair without arguing.

As he and Petra were startinging to leave the hospital wing, he stopped and turned back around to face Arika. Unsheathing one of his blades, he pointed it at her to emphasize his seriousness. "Fine. But you will be here to answer questions tomorrow. No exceptions, and don't even think about making a run for it," the Corporal said coldly.

Arika scoffed and acted insulted. "I wouldn't dream of it! I won't leave this spot!" Her eyes said another thing entirely, challenging Levi in a stare-down. The stare-down was quickly broken by the angered Head Nurse.

"Levi! What have I told you about waving around swords in my hospital?!" Normally, anybody that spoke to Levi with that tone would get his or her ass kicked. The Head Nurse, however, was the one person that always managed to get away with calling Levi on his shit.

Levi's right arm holding the sword was slowly lowered, but that didn't stop the Head Nurse from unceremoniously throwing him out of the hospital. Petra, of course, had tried to straighten out the misunderstanding Levi had created. That didn't change the Head Nurse's position on the subject.

Petra returned to where her Corporal was leaning outside the doorway of the hospital with her head hung low. "No luck, we're banned for a week. Again. Now we can't even come question her tomorrow."

"There'd be no point in coming here tomorrow anyway," Levi replied, staring down at the blade he still hadn't put away.

Petra looked at him, puzzled. "But you said that you wanted to—"

"I know what I said," Levi cut her off, "But there's no point in trying to question somebody if they aren't there to be questioned."

Petra sat there for a second before she pieced together what Levi was saying. "So you think she's going to make a break for it?"

Levi nodded in her direction before returning to gaze at the blade he was holding. It was still stained with blood. Arika's blood. He hadn't disposed of the blade or moved to clean it for some odd reason, but it perfectly proved what he had been mulling over.

"Not just think, I know she's going to." Levi lifted the blade up for Petra to see.

"Nobody with this determination would just stay put because they were told to. You heard her, too. She has no intention of staying here."

Sliding down the wall to sit at its base, Petra put her head in her hands. Her fingers wove into her hair like they usually do when she felt backed into a corner. "What do we do then? We aren't even allowed to go back in there to move her to a different location where we could monitor her," she said brokenly, looking up to Levi.

"There's only one thing we can do. If Arika's going to try to break out, then we've got to beat her to it. We need to act first." Finally pushing himself off the wall, Levi sheathed his sword and started walking off to find the rest of his squad.

"We need to break in."

~*~*~*~*~*AoT*~*~*~*~*~

It was at some odd hour of the night that Arika finally cracked her eye open. She had been patiently pretending to sleep for several hours, waiting and listening. All of the other patients were snoring, sound asleep, and the nurses had left to patrol a different part of the hospital. This was her chance. Soundlessly slipping out of the hospital bed, Arika quickly tip-toed to peek out of the curtains shutting her out from the rest of the patients. There wasn't anybody in sight. Time to move.

Reaching back to grab the bedsheets, Arika tied it to form a makeshift bag. At the same time, she reached under the pillow her head had just been resting on. She pulled out her own burlap sack with her belongings that she had successfully been able to hide when she first arrived at the hospital. Arika would drop dead before she'd let anyone get their hands on its contents. Pulling the key to her freedom out from the sack, she carefully looked over the compass she always carried around.

This would guide her back to him no matter how far humans took her away.

With all the stealth she could muster, Arika moved around the room like a ghost collecting any supplies she thought would be useful.

Taking all of the untouched food off of other patients trays and grabbing any medical bandages she came across, some part of her felt a little relieved. She wouldn't have to worry about food for a while, and having medicine was a luxury that she would only stumble across from time to time. At least there was one positive thing that would come out of this.

Humans might be terrible, but at least their food and medicine is good. After all these years, Arika's opinion on humans had never changed. They might be interesting to watch from afar, but they were all destructive beasts at their core. She had her reasons, and it would take a miracle worker to make her think any differently.

Shoving one last thing into the bag, a spare set of clothes, she was ready to leave. It had taken her less than a minute, but she was already getting antsy at the thought the somebody could walk in and bust her at any moment.

Scanning the room again for good measure, Arika slowly backed away to the door out of the hospital wing. She had memorized the way she had been carried in here. After this door she needed to go left, take a staircase down, go straight, and leave through the back door on the right side at the end of the hall. Easy enough.

It suddenly became not as easy when the door handle Arika had so quietly been turning refused to turn all the way. Locked. Dammit. Crouching down on the ground, Arika shuffled through her burlap sack until she pulled out a curved lock pick. She had become fairly skilled at picking locks to get into abandoned houses in Wall Maria, but it was still an unappreciated time consumer when every wasted second counted against her. Inserting the pick carefully, Arika moved it until she heard the tell-tale click of success.

Grinning to herself, Arika threw her bags back over her shoulder but kept the pick at hand. She'd be needing it again if any other doors were locked. Triumphantly, Arika turned the doorknob and swiftly pushed the door open.

At the same time, a scream surged up and died in her throat.

"Good evening. Couldn't sleep, I take it?" Levi was sitting in a chair right outside of the door, smirking. He had his legs crossed and was leisurely cleaning a blade with what might have once been a white rag that had been stained red.

When she felt like she was no longer at risk of screaming and accidentally waking the whole ward, Arika moved a hand away from her mouth. "What are you doing here?! How did you get in here?!" she spilled out in a rushed whisper.

Levi impassively held up a small metal lock pick. "I got in the same way you got out. I'd be lying if I said I haven't had my fair share of robberies and break ins," Levi said in a casual tone as if they were discussing the weather, "And while we are on the subject of lying, I do believe you had promised me that you weren't going to leave that spot." Levi's tone had quickly darkened and he was now standing, pointing at her accusingly with the blade he had been cleaning. "Care to explain that to me, Miss Welsch?"

Arika immediately started backpedaling, no longer caring if she was at risk of waking other patients. "You're fucking crazy if you think I'm staying here," she hissed at the man who was taking two steps forward for every one she took back.

"No," Levi scoffed as he closed in on her, "We've already established that you are the crazy one. And you are also the one that is going to be staying right here."

"I'd like to see you try to make me, short stuff. I'm going back and there's nothing you can do to stop me," Arika snapped as her eyes finally locked on the window not far behind her. Levi saw where she was looking.

"Don't do it. We can do this the easy way or the hard way, but I'll still win in the end," Levi said warningly. He was too little, too late though because Arika had already picked up speed. Both made a mad dash for the window, but it was ultimately Arika who reached it first. In a shower of glass, Arika jumped and smashed through the window.

Levi braked right before he, too, flew out the window. His eyes narrowed but beside that made no move to follow her. "Guess it's the hard way then."

It didn't matter to Levi either way. He had planned for everything.

It wasn't that far of a drop, but Arika had a jarring impact and the stinging cuts from the glass didn't help one bit when she rolled out of her fall. Rolling over with a pained grunt, she had stretched her hand out toward the bags that had fallen several feet away from her when a boot came down to rest on top of her precious belongings.

"Well, what'd ya know? The fucker was actually right about this one! Good call, Levi!" Auruo shouted up toward where the Corporal was standing at the shattered window directly above them. There was a soft crunch of glass as Levi deftly jumped out of the window and scaled down the wall with his 3-D Maneuvering Gear.

"I wasn't sure if she'd go so far as to jump out the windows, but I guess it was good to have you guys staking out down here anyway."

Arika was struggling to sit up and had to fight through her disoriented vision to make out a fuzzy version of Levi making his way toward her. A sense of urgency flooded through her and she managed to force herself to her feet, but no sooner had she turned to flee did she run straight into a wall of bodies. Erd, Günter, and Auruo had made a human barricade to stop Arika from taking another step. With a jolt, Arika felt herself jerked backwards as Levi yanked her to face him. She was about to fight back against him went Petra latched onto her, pinning her arms to her sides.

Arika's vision and hearing cleared up in time to watch Levi raise up a blade and say, "I told you. I win in the end either way."

With that, the hilt of his sword came down and everything was consumed in dark unconsciousness.

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A/N (TheHeart'sCompass): Hey, everybody! Thanks for reading and sorry for the wait! My Life apparently has an agenda of its own and has prevented me from writing :/ Okay, well if you like this chapter and want more make sure to review, favorite, and follow! And if you like this style of writing go ahead and check out my story, The Blessing and Curse that is Hope, by going to my profile! See ya next chapter! Have a SUPERMEGAFOXYAWESOMEHOT day! XD

A/N (Butterfly Chibi): I hope that you enjoyed this chapter, and we would love to know your opinion. Chapter 3 will be a little while longer so Compass can work on her stories. :D R&R Please check out her story it's awesome~! X3 I love reading it and I'm sure you will as well. Until next time guys~! :)


	3. Chapter 3

Arika's head felt ready to split clean open, and when she reached her hand to the source of her discomfort she quickly yanked back. A dull, thumping pain echoed from where Arika touched her head, exactly where the handle of Levi's blade had hit. Groaning, Arika sat up slowly and the sound of crinkling bedsheets made her aware that she had been laying down in an uncomfortable bed. Opening her hazel green eyes and then repetitively rubbing them, Arika was confused when it didn't become brighter. Whatever place she had ended up in was pitch black, so much so that she would've thought she was still asleep if she didn't know better.

Clumsily fumbling around her, Arika found a small box on a bedside table to her left. With a flick of her wrist, a match hissed to life and surrounded her with a small circle of light. A lantern became visible, and Arika quickly lit that, too, flooding the rest of the room with light. If it could be called a room, that is. So dark and claustrophobically small, Arika felt trapped, and it didn't help when she realized there wasn't a single window to let in a bit of light from outside. There were two doors though. Not wanting to stay in place for a minute longer, Arika sprung out of the bed in a heartbeat. The floor was ice cold, and she briefly determined that it was stone as she rushed to the closest door.

The unlocked door gave way easily, and for a second Arika thought she was in the clear, but she was met with yet another dark, small room. A puff of disappointment escaped her. Of course escape wouldn't be that easy. Returning to the bedside table, Arika picked up the lantern and passed through the doorway. Nope. Just a bathroom. No escape route. With the lantern illuminating the walls, Arika realized that this room didn't have windows either. Her toes curled up against the freezing stone floor when she pieced it together.

She was underground, in a bunker most likely.

Nonetheless, she walked over and tried out the other door. Locked. She was locked in an underground bunker. Lovely.

About to turn around and punch a wall, Arika froze up when she heard the mumble of voices. Instantaneously, she had her ear pressed up against the door.

"Now, Eren, Levi thinks that this girl might be a shifter like you, so be on your guard but try to make it seem like you understand her and are on her side. He said that she seems really prejudice around humans and that you'd probably be our best bet on reaching her. Levi said I wasn't allowed to go in and 'weird her out,' so it'll be only you. You'll be fine, I'm sure, just use your best judgement…"

Arika didn't recognize the approaching female voice, but it didn't matter. She was already in motion, escape plan at the forefront of her mind. Her time was limited; those voices would be here in less than a minute. Sprinting back into the bathroom like every second mattered, Arika frantically paced back and forth, looking for some way, any way, to get out of here.

Then she locked onto the shower.

It would be a bit of a long shot, but for what she had at hand this was the best plan she would be able to make off the top of her head. It had to work. It just had to.

Arika hurriedly dropped the lantern onto the floor and rushed over to the shower, sweeping the shower curtains aside with more force than necessary. Crap. Arika cursed herself when she realized she didn't know how to operate these controls.

The voices were getting closer.

No longer caring, Arika slammed the dial as far right as it would go, the reddest setting it would allow. There was a slight pause where Arika wondered if she hadn't done it right, but the thought was quickly silenced when scorching water rained down, catching her hands as she ducked away. Her hands turned a brilliant shade of red and protested when Arika didn't even pause before ripping down the shower curtain.

Clattering to the ground, the curtain rod segments being torn apart by Arika was drowned out by the sound of water. When she was satisfied, Arika took a sizeable segment of the metal pole and gripped it like her life depended on it. If all else goes wrong, I need a weapon. It's only one boy, I can take him.

Armed and ready, Arika retreated from the bathroom and as a finishing touch locked the door from the inside before closing it. She had purposely left the lamp in there, meaning she was now thrown into darkness, but light was shining out of the crack under the bathroom door. Perfect. Bolting over to what must be the exit, Arika crouched off to the hinged side of the door and screwed her eyes shut. Please, please, please work, she chanted as she tensed up when the voices stopped right outside of the door. Her eyes snapped open and her burnt hands tightened around the metal rod just as the door handle clicked.

"Okay, Eren, go make me a new titan shifter friend! Good luck!" the female voice chirped out encouragingly.

The door opened smoothly, carving a path of light into the dark room, but leaving Arika in darkness where she had hidden. The door had opened just as the hinges had suggested, leaving Arika tucked away in its shadow.

There was a throaty, masculine chuckle. "I'll try my best, Hanji. Thanks," the boy that must have been Eren said as he stepped into the room. Arika heard the woman that had been addressed as Hanji walk away, footsteps softly retreating.

He had a lantern in his hand, and Arika freaked out for a second, thinking he would see her when he closed the door. She let out a silent breath of relief when he didn't even turn in her direction as he lightly pushed the door to close. His attention was directed toward the bathroom, so much so that he didn't notice Arika's arm dart out to stop the closing door right before it closed and locked again. Eren's back was toward her when he approached the bathroom door.

Steam and light were pouring out of the crack underneath the door and the sound of running water made it appear like she was in there taking a shower. Eren gave a couple knocks on the door, believing her to be on the other side.

"Hello? So sorry to interrupt. My name's Eren Jaeger, and I was sent here to see if you wanted to talk." He paused, waiting for some sort of response, only to be answered by rushing water. Ever so slowly, Arika stared slinking around the door. It was still open enough for her to slip out.

"Maybe she can't hear me," Eren mumbled to himself. Louder, he asked, "Your name is Arika, right? I was hoping that we could talk. I'm a good guy, I promise, I won't hurt you." Still no response. Arika squeezed the rest of the way into the hall and had ducked out of the way just as Eren turned around to sit on the bed. "Fine, I'll just wait then."

Arika allowed herself a small victorious smile when she heard the creak of Eren sitting down on the crappy mattress. He actually thought she was in there. He wasn't coming after her. It worked. I'm out! Standing back up, she took a look around the hallway that she now stood in. It was lit with torches, but there wasn't a single hint as to which way was her ticket out. Arika stealthily moved to peak around one of the closest corners. A trail of torches continued in every direction, forming a grid network. A maze. A freaking maze. Guess I'm not out yet, Arika thought bitterly.

"Oi! Eren! I forgot one last thing!" Arika jumped a clear foot in the air when the female voice from before spontaneously appeared right around the corner she had looked down not five seconds before. How did she do that?! Shaking with a mixture of adrenaline and nerves, Arika braced herself.

"Levi just wanted me to remind you that the girl shouldn't be underestima—" Hanji didn't know what hit her when she rounded the corner. Arika had the drop on her, swinging the metal shower rod into the side of her head before another sound could leave her lips. Inwardly flinching at her own actions, Arika could have sworn her head started pounding even more painfully as punishment. She forced out the distraction as Hanji crumpled into her arms. Stepping around the corner, Arika gave it a few seconds before checking if Eren had come out into the hall. He hadn't. Yet again, Arika found herself thanking the lovely, loud shower.

But she was still stuck with the same problem. She didn't know how to get out of here any more than she did before. Looking down at the woman in her arms, Arika only became more frustrated. She probably knew the way out. I could have asked her for directions. No, that's stupid, she wouldn't give me directions. She would recognize who I was the second she saw I wasn't wearing the uniform.

Arika's head snapped up. The uniform!

The idea hit her like a ton of bricks, causing her to accidentally drop Hanji not so gently on the ground. Arika gave a silent apology before she was stripping the woman of the Scouting Legion cloak. Putting it on herself, Arika smoothed out the fabric and attempted to calm herself down... Not the easiest of things to do when dragging an unconscious stranger into an open doorway, out of sight.

Clearing her throat and rubbing her clammy hands nervously, Arika retraced her steps back to the room she had just escaped from. Relax. Make this believable. You've come too far to give up halfway. Even while talking herself up, Arika tucked the shower rod piece under the cloak. A Plan B never hurt anybody.

Clearing her head, Arika shoved aside all her doubts and gave a confident knock on the door to the room she had been held in. Pushing it open, she fought the urge to slam it shut again when Eren stood to face her. The mental image of the Outside was the only thing that made it possible for her to completely convert her persona.

"Eren, correct?" Arika asked with more confidence than she had.

"Yeah, did something happen?" he asked, unsure as to why someone was coming to find him at now of all times. It would have to be pretty damn important for Levi to send someone when he was supposed to be in the middle of important questioning.

Arika picked up on Eren's uneasiness. "Nothing big, not an emergency or anything. Just a bit of miscommunication. Levi forgot to let you know that the girl had been moved to a different holding cell." Arika tried her hardest not to let any malice slip when saying Levi's name. It was also so strange to talk about herself in the third person. She continued anyway, "They needed a cell that would be easier to transport her from."

Eren looked puzzled for a second but nodded slowly. Levi wasn't the type to easily forget, but then again he wasn't the super talkative type of person like Hanji. Then Eren's eyebrows knitted together in a frown and he turned to point at the bathroom door which he had been waiting outside of. "Who's in the shower then?"

Shit, I didn't think this far, Arika thought as she fumbled to think up a reason why the shower would be going with nobody in it. "Oh, that! Well, the girl woke up and made a bit of a scene. She roughed one guy up pretty bad—blood everywhere, not pretty, trust me. And you know how the Corporal is; he made the poor guy hang back and clean the whole place up. If he's in the shower he must've finished up," Arika finished explaining, acting as if it was the simplest thing in the world. She felt tempted to even give herself a pat on the back for throwing out the bit about Levi being a clean freak. He might have only been around her for a brief period of time, but Arika had already spotted out his compulsive cleaning habits and the fact that he radiated the smell of cleaning products was a dead giveaway.

Apparently it was enough to sell Eren, who gave a sorry shake of his head in the direction of the bathroom. "May God have mercy on his soul, he's probably going to have to clean this room forty times over again. Levi won't be satisfied until the fucking shadows are scrubbed off the walls." Eren gave a hearty laugh and sauntered his way over to Arika. "So where's this new cell?"

Arika gave a smile when Eren fell right in step with her plan. "I can take you there if you'd like," she said happily.

Eren gave a nod at the suggestion. "That'd be great. I'm probably already on Levi's bad side since I wasted all this time. Any later and I'll just be asking for my teeth to get knocked out one by one," Eren said, suppressing a shudder.

Arika broke out into nervous laughter, "We can't have anything bad like that happening, now can we?"

Then something over Eren's shoulder caught her eye. To some degree, Arika was aware that Eren was speaking to her, but all she could see was the water quickly seeping out from under the bathroom door. Speaking of bad things… Guess I'm not as good at figuring out how to work a shower as I thought. Arika's mouth floundered around and then quickly snapped shut. Grabbing onto Eren's arm, she urgently pulled him out of the room before he could notice the flooding.

"We had best not keep him waiting then!" Arika blurted as she yanked the door shut before Eren could catch sight of her blatant lies falling to pieces. Taking him by the hand, Arika led him down the hallway, quickening her pace when she passed the room where she knew Hanji's unconscious body lay hidden.

"O-Okay then," Eren stumbled as he was dragged along by the girl. He shot a sideways glance at Arika and then tried to strike up a conversation. "I really appreciate all your help by the way. I'm kind of new to this whole Scouting Legion thing, but you probably could already tell that, huh?"

Arika was taking random left and right turns, and let out a distracted "Uh-huh." Eren stumbled again as Arika took yet another sharp turn but didn't let up.

"I don't think I caught your name before. I'm Eren Jaeger," Eren prompted her eagerly.

"I'm A—" Arika almost let her name slip out, but at the last second remembered Eren knew that the girl he was supposed to question was named Arika. "A-Ah, it's Amanda," Arika quickly recovered.

Eren shot her a brilliant grin that lit up his whole face. "Nice to meet you, Amanda. I'm glad I ran into you. I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't shown up."

It stung. His grateful smile was stinging her like a slap across the face. So open, so sincere, so trusting. Arika felt disgusted with herself. Returning that smile with lies and false fronts was just about the last thing she wanted to do, but her need to return to the Outside beat out her morals. She almost couldn't force herself to continue the charade.

Almost.

"Well, you probably wouldn't be lost, I can tell you that much," Arika said with a bitter taste in her mouth, "I think I'm lost, I don't know where I'm going."

I'm sorry I have to play you like this…

Turning to look around, Eren saw that Arika was right. They were going in circles. He gave a chuckle, "Looks like you're right! What cell number was it? I can probably find it."

...But I have no other choice.

Arika gave a sheepish smile while she felt her heart sink. He had trustingly played right into her hands. "I don't remember the room number actually, but it's the one right by the exit. Do you know which one I'm talking about?"

"The one right across from the entrance staircase?"

Snapping her fingers, Arika acted like a lightbulb had suddenly lit up in her head. "That's the one!"

Even with such a vague description, Eren nodded and took the lead, Arika in tow. "No problem, I know exactly where that is!" Eren shot her another grin, and Arika sunk even further into a pit of guilt.

Here she was, being kindly guided to freedom by a boy that had unknowingly become her accomplice. Escape was in sight and she would never return here, but Eren would be left to deal with the problems she had created for him. Levi, no doubt would never let the boy live to see another day if he heard that Eren had assisted in her escape.

"Oi, shitty brat, where do you think you're going? I told you to question the girl. Is your skull so thick that you can't hear a simple order?" A cold, menacing voice drawled out, not far behind Arika and Eren.

Shit. And so the devil himself appears.

Gripping Eren's hand tighter, Arika stepped up the pace. The Corporal hadn't seen her face yet. If she made it out of this bunker, she might have a decent chance at outrunning them. As long as Eren doesn't say anything to tip him off, I should be safe.

"I'm on my way there now, Levi. I know I'm late, but it's not my fault that you can't be bothered to tell me where this girl I'm supposed to be interrogating is!" Eren said over his shoulder.

"Tch. I told you exactly where she would be. I even had Hanji escort you there, brat, so don't go blaming me when it's you not having your shitty directions in order. You're going the wrong way, moron." For a such a short guy, he could sure move fast, Arika could give him that. His voice was catching up with them fast.

"No, I'm not. Amanda here was just helping find the right cell, and I know exactly where I'm going."

Don't bring me into this! Arika mentally screamed at Eren, but it was already too late. The Corporal's eyes locked onto the girl tugging Eren along. Levi smelled something fishy and was practically breathing down her neck in the blink of an eye.

"Amanda, huh? Did you find what you were looking for, Amanda?" Arika jumped and gave a startled yelp. Before she could make a break for it, Levi grabbed her arm and whipped her around to face him. At the last second, Arika yanked on the hood of the Scouting Legion cloak in a last ditch effort to hide her face, but the Corporal ripped it back off instantly.

"Or should I say Miss Arika Welsch?" Levi smirked when her face became visible, proving him right. "Nice try, but you're not fooling me. Back to your cell. Now."

Eren's eyes hardened when Levi started dragging Arika back the way they'd come. Automatically, he was pulling Arika in the opposite direction, trying to free her from Levi's hold.

"What're you doing? That's some sick sense of humor you've got there. Amanda has been nothing but helpful and kind, so you'd be doing all of us a favor if you'd get your hands off her!" Eren's voice was full of conviction, as were his eyes that didn't back down from Levi's glare. At this point, Arika was little more than a rope in a tug-of-war between the two soldiers. Levi eventually won out, tightening his grip and tearing Arika away from Eren.

"Eren, this is Arika, the girl I sent you to question. I'd ask you why the hell she's out here with you when she should be locked up, but I have a feeling you don't even know the answer to that. Somehow she got you to lead her straight to the exit. There is no Amanda. She played you for a fool. Tricked you. Used you. Do you get the picture now?" Levi was merciless as he gave stab after verbal stab.

It was effective enough to get Eren to stop reaching out to pull Arika away, but he still shook his head. "You're lying. I won't believe it," he said.

Levi gave an uncaring shrug. "I don't give a damn what you choose to believe, but I'm right when I'm right. If you want your proof, you can question Miss Welsch in her cell," Levi gave a pointedly threatening glare at Arika, "Where she will stay."

That was when Arika couldn't hold back any longer. She couldn't afford to stay here. She had to go back Outside.

With lightning speed, Arika whipped out the metal rod she had hidden under the cloak and swung at Levi's head for all she was worth. The hard smack of metal against flesh sounded throughout the corridor, the sound alone enough to make Arika wince and want to squeeze her eyes shut. But the sound of a collapsing body didn't follow. Arika looked down to where the bar had connected.

The metal rod noisily clattered to the stone floor as Arika stumbled back. She didn't stumble very far though, however, before Levi's hand had a killer grip on her wrist. The very same hand that moments before had caught the metal bar mid-swing only inches away from his face.

Nudging the metal rod with the tip of his boot, Levi gave a surprised grunt. "Part of a shower curtain rod? Creative, I'll give it that much. Guess it'll be a new cell without a bathroom then." Finished mumbling to himself, Levi gave a victorious sneer.

"Well, well, Eren, would you look at that. There's your proof as clear as day." Levi forcefully slammed a pair of handcuffs on Arika's wrists then looked back at Eren. "Now who was it that was lying?" the Corporal asked mockingly.

Glancing over to Arika who had started thrashing violently to get away from him, Levi gave a harsh push and commanded, "Walk." When she didn't follow the order and continued to resist, Levi started dragging her back in the direction of her new cell.

He didn't receive any help from Eren who walked next to them as if he was lost in a daze. He looked down at Amanda—no, Arika—who continued to try to escape even though her attempts were futile.

"You lied to me. Why did you lie to me?" Eren asked, at a loss to ask anything else. The girl didn't pause in her struggles to answer him.

"Because I need to go back! I need to get back to him, he needs me!" Arika sent Eren a look longing for sympathy. "You understand me, right? You belong in here because this is where you're needed, and I belong out there because that's where I'm needed!"

"This isn't chit chat time. You'll have your chance to explain, so until then I expect your mouth to remain shut," Levi cut into Arika's desperate plea. Reaching a door, Levi pulled a set of keys from his back pocket and started flipping through them carefully as if he was choosing the weapon to silence somebody with.

"You don't have to be an Outsider though," Eren said hurriedly as Levi found the correct key, "There's always the option to stay here."

Arika gave him a look that quite obviously suggested her questioning his sanity. "You say that like I actually had a choice in the matter. I didn't make the decision to be an Outsider, Humanity went and decided that for me all on its own."

The door finally opened and Levi unceremoniously pushed Arika inside. "Sweet nightmares, brat. Hope you're deathly afraid of the dark." Like the cover of a tomb, the door slammed shut on Arika, sealing the Outsider's fate permanently.

* * *

A/N (TheHeart'sCompass): AHHHH! So many words! Longest chapter yet! You people are worth it though :) That, and I'm putting off doing two essays XD

A/N: (Butterfly Chibi): Sorry about the wait on chapter 3. We hope you in enjoy this chapter as much as we did. Heart and myself came up with ideas in this chapter, but I am currently just writing down ideas for the next one. So hopefully we get some more feedback. I am so glad everyone likes the story. :D Well for the romance portion it will not be rushed yesh that are! XD I am glad everyone loves my Oc Arika. We will probably take some time to plan out the next chapter my brain is reeling right now.

P.S. : R&R Have sweet dreams of Levi~!


	4. Chapter 4

THUMP, THUMP, THUMP.

The pounding in Arika's head had returned with a vengeance only now she was more aware of it. Heavy eyelids refusing to open, she blindly tried to massage away what sounded like a person knocking on her skull as if it were a door. But her arms wouldn't move. Arika's muddled mind was slow to wrap around the feeling of biting metal against her wrists. Her confusion only lasted as long as it took for Arika to remember where she was.

Handcuffs. They've got me handcuffed in an underground cell. Inside the Walls. Any drowsiness Arika had possessed was quickly driven out by a wave of frustration. Curling her cuffed hands into fists, she slammed down on the paper thin mattress in anger. Anger at herself for getting caught. Anger at the world for being so damn unfair. But mostly anger at him for being the sole reason why she was here.

THUMP, THUMP, THUMP.

It was back again. Arika squeezed her eyes shut, trying to force the sound out of her head. It was only after focusing that she realized that the sound hadn't been her imagination. Right as her eyes fluttered open, light flooded the room and forced her eyes shut on reflex. After being in the pitch black room for so long, the light was scorchingly painful but at the same time a giant relief. Adjusting to the sudden change caused Arika to miss a good portion of Levi and Hanji's argument.

"Shouldn't be involved? How could I not get involved with this?! This is my expertise after all and whether you like it or not I will talk with her!"

Levi rebutted with a painstakingly level tone, "I merely suggested that you would do best to wait a while before talking with her. She could have a vendetta against you because of your work with titans and shifters for all we know; she did attack you after all."

Hanji brushed away the notion. "She didn't try to kill me, she was just trying to escape. You would've done the same thing in her position."

"Oh, good. So I shouldn't be suspicious until she tries and or succeeds in killing you," Levi paused to light a lamp that further illuminated the room. "Well, isn't that reassuring," he said, applying a thick layer of sarcasm.

Hanji rolled her eyes and waved him off. "Geez, would it kill you to ease up and let me handle this for once? Leave it to me, I'll decide if she's a shifter or not and then you're free to be paranoid to your heart's content!"

"You guys think I'm a shifter? Is that what all of this has been about?"

The two bickering soldiers were brought back to attention by Arika's voice. She was sitting upright, no longer tired or blinded, only bewildered at hearing the accusation of being a shifter. Hanji was at Arika's side in an instant, holding her hands in a vice grip in a way that was probably meant to be friendly but was verging on bone-crushingly painful.

"You don't even know why you're here? Levi! You didn't bother to take five seconds to explain anything to her?!"

"Idle chit chat wasn't exactly my priority when she was trying to shatter my skull with a shower curtain rod," Levi remarked with a shrug.

Idle chit chat? Since when does the reason behind keeping someone held against their will qualify as idle chit chat? Arika let the thought pass without commenting.

"I'm not."

"Excuse me?" Levi gave Arika a look like she had just sprouted a second head.

"A shifter," Arika clarified. "I'm not a titan shifter. I'm actually shocked that you even know of shifters' existence."

"Eren is a shifter," Levi said simply as he approached Arika's bedside. He caught a brief glimpse of Arika's eyebrows arching in surprise. "That's already been established and dealt with. Knowing of titan shifters' existence only makes it harder for me to believe you when you say you aren't one. You'd have the perfect motive and it would make sense that you'd be willing to take your chances living with the titans."

"Well, sorry to burst your bubble then. I'm not a shifter. That won't change regardless of if you choose to believe me or not."

Arika had been intending to drive home her point by staring him down, but Hanji suddenly tore one hand away from her wrist to turn her head away from Levi. Arika was forced to stare straight into Hanji's unwavering eyes and was held in place. After a while, Hanji pouted.

"Aw, dammit! She's telling the truth." Hanji's fingertips finally left Arika's wrist where she had been monitoring her pulse for any faltering. "And I was so looking forward to having another titan shifter around!"

"Are you sure she isn't?" Levi pressed.

"Positive. Makes sense, I guess. If she had truly been a shifter she would've been able to escape at any time at the hospital," Hanji sadly pointed out. "That, and her cuts don't indicate any abnormal healing," Hanji said as she gestured to the angry red markings reminiscent of Arika's tumble from the hospital window.

"You're normal?" Levi prodded in disbelief.

"Last time I checked, yes."

His eyes darkened in curiosity. "Then why are you so hell bent on getting back outside of the Wall?"

"It's safer out there," Arika said as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

"Safer? Out there? With the man-eating, giant monsters? That fall must have truly scrambled your brains."

"Better to live with a predictable monster than a human if you ask me," Arika said numbly before mumbling to herself, "Though I do suppose humans qualify as monsters just as easily."

Hanji tried to loosen Arika's lips. "What's so important out there? What keeps you bound there?"

"The same thing that keeps all of you bound here," Arika's eyes briefly became unfocused as she was mulling over what Hanji had asked.

There was a pause as Hanji thought of something that motivated every soldier to put their life on the line. "A loved one?" Hanji guessed hopefully. Arika gave a soft nod without realizing the action.

"So there are more people outside of the Walls?" Levi pushed. Suddenly Arika was no longer spaced out and was instead aware that anything she said could bring harm to that very same loved one she was trying to protect.

"Your guess is as good as mine," she vaguely dodged the question. Levi frowned as Arika was yet again returning to her uncooperative state.

"Maybe you would be more motivated to speak after missing a couple meals. The hunger and dark solitude could do you some good," he threatened casually. Thick tension laced the air at the challenge.

Hanji threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. "This attitude of yours isn't helping us make any progress here, Levi! Keep it up and I'm going to have to assume you have a terminal case of Asshole Syndrome! We'll get our answers when she's ready to give them, okay?" she huffed.

Levi had gotten a dark look in his eyes and had his mouth halfway open when Hanji took the initiative to drag him out of the holding cell.

"So sorry to cut things short like this, but I think there's a couple of things that need to be straightened out first." She gave a sideways glance at Levi whose malice was silently radiating off him in waves. Quickly forcing him out through the door, Hanji's head popped back in once more. "We'll be back later!" she chirped before shutting the door, once again leaving Arika in darkness.

"Take all the time you need, I won't hold my breath," Arika murmured to nobody but herself.

With a sigh, Arika leaned back and closed her eyes. She was on the verge of drifting back off to sleep when the room was flooded with light. A frown automatically etched itself onto her face without her even opening her eyes.

"Five minutes isn't what she meant by later, moron. Leave."

"I get that I was a fool for playing into your tricks, but calling me a moron is taking it a bit far, don't you think?" The soft voice caused Arika to bolt upright. There was a hiss of a match and the room was alight with a flickering glow, revealing it to be Eren instead of Levi in the doorway.

"Oh, I didn't—"

"It's fine," Eren prevented her from continuing what would've been an apology. Without a word, Eren walked over and placed a tray of food on Arika's lap. Blinking at it in disbelief, Arika thought that Levi would have been true to his word on starving the truth out of her. Yet, here was a full tray of food not even five minutes after Levi had threatened her. Arika looked up at Eren as his sat down at the edge of her bed. He didn't meet her eyes, alternatively choosing to gesture at the food.

"I'd eat that quickly if I were you," he mumbled quietly.

He's talking to quietly, Arika thought to herself. Could he have…? Eren confirmed her guess when he shot a glance over his shoulder at the door as if expecting it to open at any time.

"You aren't supposed to be in here, are you?" Arika mimicked his hushed voice.

Eren gave a shake of his head. "Not exactly, no." Shifting to finally look at her, Eren momentarily forgot about the door as he focused on the real reason he had for sneaking in here. "But I heard everything that you said and I couldn't just stand by and do nothing."

Arika raised an eyebrow at the revelation. "You were listening?"

"I was standing right outside of the door," Eren admitted, "Levi said that my screwing things up had already helped enough and that I shouldn't be involved in any questioning, but the door was right there and it was cracked open…" He trailed off and was silent. At the very least, that explained the food. Eren had heard everything and gone off to get her this in the hopes of getting to speak with her.

Not wanting to be ungrateful and now fully aware of her grumbling stomach, Arika picked up a loaf of bread and tore into it. "Thank you."

An uncomfortable silence followed before Eren spoke again. "So the loved one, the one outside of the Wall, is that why you're trying so hard to get back out?"

Finishing off the loaf of bread and moving on to a baked potato, Arika nodded. "Family's a precious thing, especially in such hard times," she stated in response, "I'd do anything to keep safe what few things I have left to protect."

Arika recognized a faint glint of fire in the boy's eyes at her words. "I don't think I could've said it any better," he mumbled before continuing in a clearer voice, "I understand completely; I get why you'd go to such great lengths for family. Cheat, fight, lie… I'd do anything to hold onto them one more time, and I wouldn't give up that time for anything."

Eren made sure he was looking Arika straight in the eye at what he said next. "So I want you to know that I don't hold any of it against you. None of it."

Arika was taken by surprise and it showed in her shocked expression. "You don't care that I lied to you?"

Eren gave a breathy chuckle and shook his head. "No, not now that I know why you did it. Plus, I just admitted to eavesdropping on your conversations. I think we can call it even," he said with a swift smile.

Realizing time had gotten the best of him, Eren glanced back at the door and remembered where he was. "Well, I'd better get going before I get caught. Remember, I was never here, okay?"

Arika gave a quick nod and was answered with a heartwarming smile. Before she could say anything, Eren had gotten up and slipped back out of the cell, the almost empty food tray as the only reminder he had ever visited her. Arika let it all sink in and gave a sigh of relief.

His smile. It didn't hurt anymore. That same smile had, only hours ago, seared through Arika with guilt. But now it left her relieved knowing that Eren felt she hadn't done anything wrong.

It didn't make what she was going to do next any less wrong, but at the very least Arika wouldn't feel bad about doing it.

With a distinct click followed by a clatter of metal, Arika's handcuffs fell to the cold floor.

~*~*~*~*~*AoT*~*~*~*~*~

Skillfully shutting the door without a sound, Eren let out the breath he had been holding. He had been right; there had been a reason to what Arika had done. For some reason it put him at ease knowing her motives, and it was in this relieved state that Eren was caught off guard.

Thinking himself to be in the clear, Eren rounded the corner without a second thought and in the process ran straight into Levi and Hanji. The sound of surprise that swelled into Eren's throat was stifled when Levi slapped a hand over his mouth, effectively silencing him. Caught red-handed, Eren started compiling a list of excuses but was cut off when the Corporal seemingly read his mind.

"Don't even try digging yourself out of this one, we saw everything. Now just shut up and cooperate or else you're going to blow everything. Again," Levi bit out with hostility before peeking around the corner to check down the corridor where Arika's cell resided.

Tearing away from Levi who was occupied watching Arika's cell door, Eren turned to Hanji. "What the hell is going on?" he asked in confusion.

After motioning for Eren to lower his voice, Hanji responded, "Don't mind him. Levi's just on edge because he's having to do this a second time."

"Because you messed up the first mission," Levi spitefully added in.

"Mission? What mission?" Eren was now completely lost.

Not wavering from watching the door, Levi explained in a low voice, "The girl has a lock pick on her. It's well hidden, mind you, but I know she has one. She used it when she was breaking out of the hospital. I decided to let her keep it and use it to our advantage. I had everything set up perfectly; soldiers hidden at the exit, ready to follow her the minute she gets out." Levi's gaze flitted briefly to send a harsh glare Eren's way. "But then you got involved. I'll give the girl credit that tricking you into escorting her was a smart move, but it was the worst outcome possible. She could've slipped right past my men with you as a cover. Then everything would've been for nothing. Lucky I caught you when I did."

It took a moment for everything to add up in Eren's mind. "Wait, so you planned out a mission and didn't let me in on it?"

"You're not exactly an unbiased person, Jaeger. It was best you didn't know what you were getting into." Levi gave an agitated huff. "But I guess that isn't exactly an option anymore."

At that exact moment Levi heard the long awaited click of a door lock being picked. His eyes narrowed in anticipation as the door opened and Arika poked her head out and checked that the corridor was clear before stepping out and closing the door as if she were still in there. Just as Levi had anticipated, she could be seen slipping her lock pick into a concealed compartment of one of her boots. With one more glance in either direction, Arika started moving swiftly in the direction of the exit, having memorized the way she was taken to her cell.

Levi readied himself to follow and gave one last glance towards Eren. "Looks like you're coming with us, brat. Don't make me regret this, I don't want to follow her a third time."

"Where are we following her?" Eren asked as he watched Arika dart around another corner and Levi moved after her.

"Where do you think?" Levi prompted him in a way that was almost mocking.

It was a dumb question, truthfully. Eren already knew the answer. They were going to follow Arika to the place she most desperately wanted to get back to.

They were going outside of the Wall.

A/N: TheHeart'sCompass - Looong wait, I know, I know. Please don't shoot! School and sports are time consuming! Ah well, I'm done making excuses. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, it hopefully cleared some stuff up. Most importantly it hopefully explained why Levi's been such an ass these last two chapters (the Corporal isn't a happy camper when things don't go his way and his time gets wasted! XD). There was also a ton of Eren and Arika interaction this chapter, so I hope you guys enjoyed that, too! I've gotta get working back on my other story so it might be some time until the next chapter, but please be patient! If you haven't already, check out my story, The Blessing and Curse that is Hope. Thanks so much for reading, reviews are greatly appreciated, and have a SUPERMEGAFOXYAWESOMEHOT day! :D

A/N: Butterfly Chibi-Hey I hope you guys in enjoy this chapter. Sorry for the wait~! XD Also we will be discussing the next upcoming chapter. Hopefully you all will be pleased with it. We appreciate everyone who is supporting us with this story.


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